A chap came to discuss our wills today and it was thoroughly depressing. With no more than about two hours of daylight left I went to the Pump Pond, arriving at 17.30. There was nobody there; in fact there didn't appear to be anybody on the main lake either. Very peaceful.

The lake was very calm and all the scum had drifted into the reed corner where I fish. It didn't look very attractive but, of course, theory says this is where the fish should be.

I only had the remains of a cut wholemeal loaf for bait. I've never used brown bread before, so this was likely to be either a revelation or a disappointment. I had a run fairly soon after casting but the fish had released the bait before I tightened. Curses! However, shortly after I had another run and connected with a smallish carp, which turned out to be a 4lb 3oz common. As with all the fish I've caught in this lake it was in fine condition, but I worried that it had spooked any other fish as it struggled by the reeds.

Click any image to launch large format slide show.

I needn't have worried as only 15 minutes later a positive run resulted in connecting with what was clearly a good fish. I managed to pull it from the reeds fairly quickly, thus removing its primary refuge. Thereafter it pulled strongly but with no powerful runs. It was a dogged fight rather than spectacular. It did make one run to the right around another bank of reeds, which was worrying at the time, but side-strain pulled it back into open water. I was, however, nervous about losing it as it seemed a good size. After a few more lunges as I tried to bring it to the net I landed a magnificent common carp of just over 16lbs.

After all this commotion I really thought that would be it, and sure enough I didn't get any more runs for a while. At about 18.45, probably only 20 minutes before dusk, I made a 'final' cast and it was inch-perfect, landing as close to the reeds as possible without snagging. I was rewarded with an almost immediate run and this was another good fish. It fought similarly to the previous fish, a dogged sort of resistance. I wonder if the drop in temperature has lowered their metabolism and the warmth-inspired mad rushes of summer are now over. I landed it just before dusk, a 9lb 6oz mirror. It insisted on flexing its body into a curve while I tried to photograph us, and I had to use flash because of the failing light. The result doesn't, therefore, do the fish full justice.

Three fine carp in less than two hours fishing on a water that's not that easy was very rewarding, and I set off home very chuffed. As for the brown bread, was that the secret, or was it simply that on the day those carp were in the swim and I managed to tempt them? Who knows?